econ8989

"Barring some miracle/disaster, I am going to accept at UC-Davis. I got off the waitlist a couple days ago, and when I went to visit I was really impressed. The profs seem really good, as do the grad students, and the campus and community seem really laid back. Plus the interests line up well with mine, and it was in the 70s there while it's 30 degrees back in Urbana......." ditto....except replace Urbana with Philadelphia and 30 degreees with 40 see you in the fall Illiniguy

That stinks, but at least you have some other great options. How did you find out...did you email them?

same here... But congrats to everyone who's in :)

Thanks for all the info on living costs guys. I'm on the east coast and know very little about what the area's like. Illiniguy- did you hear back about when their spring break is? I'm actually going to be in the bay area near the end of the month(completely unrelated to grad school visits), but I'm going to try to swing through if I can since I'll already be so close.

Does anyone know what funding packages have been like in the past? or what percentage of admits are usually offered them?

Just got the news that I'm in as well :)

That's sort of what I'm thinking. Of course i'd rather not waste the money on a pile of rejections....but I can afford too if that's the case(just not happily;) ). Also, I just discovered this website yesterday, and since posting my original questions, I've done a little more reading. i think that I gave the impression that I'm shooting a little higher than I really am. My definition of second tier included the top 40 or so, but it seems like it's more commonly used to describe the top 20ish? The list of schools I'm considering giving a shot at (give or take a few) are: Chicago, UCLA, U-Mich, UCSD, Maryland, BU, Brown, UT-Austin, UC Davis, BC, Georgetown, and Colorado. I'm well aware that Chicago(really the only reason I'm even considering giving it a try is because one of my recommenders went there and seems to think that because its easier to get in than out, they might be willing to give me a shot), UCLA, U-Mich are big reaches and my lack of real analysis will almost certainly keep me out. However, I'm concerned that it will keep me out of the rest as well. Thanks again for all your help....I only wish I found this site earlier!

Unfortunately, I didn’t go to an ivy type school; I was at one of the many liberal arts schools in the northeast. I graduated in 2005, and have realized that I wish I was doing research more similar to my thesis. Since going on for a PhD isn’t very common at my school(at least in econ), I didn’t even consider it before. It wasn’t until I started looking into it a few months ago that I even realized I should have taken those math classes when I had the chance. The only reason I took classes beyond the obligatory calc was that I enjoyed them and took them as electives. Now I wish I knew…. Anyway, I took general social science statistics (probably not too useful, but I needed it for my psych minor), as well as econometrics. I took some programming in college(VB), but not enough to really matter. However, where I work, I’ve learned quite a bit of fame programming (not sure how well known fame is…) As far as the other “hard” sciences, I took a few general education type bio and chem. classes. Someone I work with, who is finishing up his phd at one of the top schools suggested that I plan on taking real analysis this spring at one of the colleges near me and write that I plan to take it in my SOP. At the very least I figure it should help me out if I DO get in somewhere. So far I haven’t been able to find a school that’s offering it in the spring, but I’m sure there has to be one somewhere. Any thoughts on that? Thanks!

I plan on applying for an econ phd, but I'm having some trouble figuring out if my math background(or lack of it) will hurt me in the admissions process. I scored a 780 on the math section of the GRE, but I never took real analysis or linear algebra. These are the college classes I took: AP calc (not sure why my school called it that, but its a combination of differential and integral calc), differential vector calc/matrix theory, and intro to logic and set theory. My main concern is that my lack of higher level math classes will keep me out of the top(and even second tier?) schools. Any thoughts?

I plan on applying for an econ phd, but I'm having some trouble figuring out if my math background(or lack of it) will hurt me in the admissions process. I scored a 780 on the math section of the GRE, but I never took real analysis or linear algebra. These are the college classes I took: AP calc (not sure why my school called it that, but its a combination of differential and integral calc), differential vector calc/matrix theory, and intro to logic and set theory. My main concern is that my lack of higher level math classes will keep me out of the top(and even second tier?) schools. Any thoughts?